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Joined:
June 2022
Posts: 1
| Hi. I have been sorting through a deceased relative's remnants and have some questions regarding what identifies as a Celebrity CC68 Ovation acoustic electric. The cutaway supports an assumption of it being a RH model. Our friend came by and his pupils dilated a bit so I guess it might be a good guitar after some TLC. But I have some questions masquerading as a Stephen King-length novel....
1. Is there a manual/spec sheet available for this guitar? The neck seems on the chunky side but that may be that it's going to require some getting used to, and positioning because of the bowl may figure in. The Fishman setup these days requires a 9v battery so presumably some sort of power is required.
2. Relative to what I might expect , the sound unplugged is not good relative to a mitchell mahogany top low end. It seems muted. I expect that new strings would take care of some of that. Although this may fall into the matters of taste aren't debatable section, do most ovations work best with light gauge strings, and what's a good starting point?
3. The action is high. Presumably this is the take it in and let an expert do it section (primum non nocere),but it might be necessary to self-tweak as I slide further into retirement . Will normal Allen wrenches work? What size?
4. The Ovation is going in anyway because the action is higher than the "typical" settings. What might I expect at that fret 12 string height if Ovation were setting it up?
5. There is also a silver thing rattling around inside which refuses to drive by the soundhole. The thing is about thumb sized. First test will be to see if the electrics work and are fixed to the body . If that stuff doesn't work/escapes , can I fix/replace ? with a Fishman ?(sp.) or will the body shape make this also an expert task?
6. With the pinless saddle/bridge, should we be checking the glue bond and perhaps the need for one of those Stedman things there?
7. Finally. One other relative is asking but he is LH. Presumably a picture will show the inherent issues.
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Hello Mark. Only a few members can respond in the Welcome Center.
So I have "upgraded" you to a member so that you may post in other sections.
I recommend "General Posting" or "About my Guitar".
You are free to move about the site.
Welcome. 
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7222
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I didn't want you to have to re-type all that so I moved the thread here where many more can see.
What I will say is that it is a Celebrity model, there are not a lot of detailed specifics known for each. They are imports, which is fine, however, some are fantastic, some frankly suck, and it has more to do with "when" it was made rather than where or what model it is.
Yeah, not much help. There are those that know much more than I do about these... so stand by. |
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Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 62
Location: Phoenix | I don’t know specifics about that particular model of guitar, but will offer some general guidelines for how I would approach this. Note, this is an import guitar, marketed towards folks with a lower budget, but with a proper setup it should be playable unless the neck needs a reset—more on that in a moment. How familiar are you with doing setups on an acoustic? Regardless, first I would look to see if the guitar has proper neck relief. That’s the amount of “bow” the guitar neck has. Put a capo on the first fret, then hold the 6th (biggest) string down at the 13th or 14th fret and look at the neck sideways. There should be a faint hint of a gap between the string and the 6th or 7th fret, the top of the fret itself not the fingerboard! If that gap is big, then the truss rod should be tightened and this will bring the action down as well. I am guessing this guitar has a truss rod adjuster inside the sound hole, it probably will take something like a 5mm or 5.5 mm Allen wrench. If the neck relief is good, though, perhaps the gap is not greater than the thickness of a heavy business card, then I look to see if the neck angle itself is good. I put a straightedge on the fingerboard (resting on top of the frets) and slide it towards the bridge. Ideally the edge of the straightedge will be about even (or perhaps even a hair above) the top of the bridge. Not the saddles, but the wood section of the bridge. If this test is good, then there theoretically should be enough saddle sticking out above the bridge to lower the action easily. On a non-piezo acoustic, the saddle would be removed and cut down but on traditional Ovations the entire saddle comes out and shims are removed. I don’t know how the Celebrity models do it. As far as action height, measured on the 12th fret I expect an acoustic to have something like 6 or 7/64ths action on the low E and 5 to 6 on the high (treble) E. A tad lower is easier to play but unless the frets are perfectly level you might start to get fret buzz on some notes. A tad higher is acceptable to some people but it’s harder to play as you get higher up the neck. But what if the straightedge test intersects the bridge below the top of the bridge, perhaps even hitting the soundboard itself? Then the neck angle needs adjusting. If the neck is a bolt-on (with a nut visible inside the sound hole, below the truss rod adjuster) this is relatively easy. If the neck is glued on, then a full-blown neck reset may be needed. However, a couple of workarounds may make the action more acceptable if it’s a glued-in neck. First, make sure the nut slots have been cut deep enough so the strings aren’t a mile above the first fret. I use a feeler gauge and shoot for 20 to 22 thousandths of an inch. Lowering the strings here will also lower the action at the 12th fret, by half of the amount you cut the slots deeper. Don’t go too low or you can get buzz on the open strings—if you inadvertently do that, fill in the nut slot with baking soda and super glue and try again. The second workaround is adding a JD Bridge Doctor which might lower the action a bit. I have installed a Bridge Doctor on several regular acoustics but not a “bowl” guitar. The Bridge Doctor hasn’t worked miracles for me but maybe got the action down a 64th of an inch. Sorry for the lengthy answer, hope this helps. |
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Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 62
Location: Phoenix | Oh, also: the silver thing bouncing around inside might be a battery, look inside the sound hole using a small mirror and a tiny light. If you have one of those tiny mirrors on a telescoping pole, you won’t have to remove the strings to have a peek inside. I doubt the bridge and preamp needs replacing. Worst case, the existing bridge may need to be re-glued if there’s a gap between the back of the bridge and the soundboard. |
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Set of questions
